Unsettling News
Posted on Tue Aug 9th, 2016 @ 10:11pm by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Maxwell & Lieutenant Commander Thomas Byrne & Commander Soleck
Edited on on Tue Aug 9th, 2016 @ 10:14pm
Mission: The Art of Survival
"I need two teams up to decks ten and eleven to do a second sweep now that the reconstruction is done," Austin was explaining to the Ensign walking along behind him as he handed her PADDs with his various orders and instructions on them.
"Aye, sir," She responded politely.
"Last thing we want is someone using the construction mess to hide more bugs," He explained.
"Agreed, sir," She said, nodding.
"And check in on Deck 104, I heard they've been having trouble with their atmospheric controls in sections 4F through 9Q," He said, handing her the last PADD.
"Aye, sir. Anything else?" She asked, brightly.
"No, ma'am. You're good to go," He said, smiling warmly and offering a salute.
"Commander Le," One of the communications officer's called as the Ensign walked away.
"What's up?" Austin called.
"Priority one call from Starfleet Command."
"Where's Commander Soleck?" Austin asked, stepping toward the center of Ops.
"Lower decks. He's en route, but you're the ranking officer on deck," He replied.
Austin sighed and nodded, "Lieutenant Commander Le Austin, Chief Operations Starbase 332," He said as the channel opened.
"Commander," said the voice of the Admiral who appeared on screen. The man was human, in his early sixties, and wearing the double rank pips of a Rear Admiral. "Admiral Gates, 11th Fleet Command. Where is your first officer?" Gates looked noticeably gruff on the screen, as though he was having to deal with an extremely displeasing situation - as the station's staff were sure to soon find out.
"Downstairs, but en route, sir. I'm Chief of Operations, though. Can I help?" He asked.
The Admiral huffed. "Well, you can tell him when he arrives that Captain Von and Lieutenant Colonel S'er'in'e are three days overdue for their meeting on Cestus Three. Do you have their flight plan?"
"They... they're what?" Austin stammered.
Ed stepped out of his office, he was still adjusting to being in Ops most of the time compared to being down on the Flighline. He had to admit he missed the action and excitement that came with being CAG, but Strat Ops was a whole other world and he was quickly adjusting to the new duties. It came with it's own brand of action and excitement.
He perked up from the padd he'd been skimming when he heard the announcement about the Skipper and CAG never arriving for the conference on Cestus. Three days overdue and they were just being notified?!
"Pardon my intrusion Admiral, Commander." Ed said as he walked over. "Lieutenant Colonel Ed Maxwell, Chief Strat Ops. The Skipper's three days late and no-one's heard one word from her or S'er'in'e and someone is just now getting around to contacting us? Pardon my saying so, but that's some piss poor communication."
"Commander, when the XO arrives, tell him I'm taking the Jackal out to see if we can locate the Skipper. We can't afford to send him out with the Carthage, he's gotta run the show here. The Monty is still being worked on to get the bugs out of her systems. Commander Drusus, could go in his place on the Carthage, but I can have the Jackal out before Carthage is ready." He paused and shrugged slightly. "It could be argued I'm overstepping my bounds here, but coordinating a search and rescue would fall under the jurisdiction of Strat Ops, so consider it coordinated."
"Belay that, Colonel," Soleck said, flatly from the turbolifts as he stepped off. "What is this I hear about the Captain being unaccounted for?" He asked, stepping into the range of the viewscreen in front of Maxwell. Austin quickly retreated, eager to be out of the eyesight of the Admiral, "Do we have any idea what happened? Is there any fear of foul play?" He asked, quite logically.
Gates, visibly not pleased with being the brunt of the colonel's frustrations at not being notified immediately, directed his attention to the station's first officer. "At present the hope is that they suffered a technical issue with their craft, which has left them stranded and unable to communicate. However when we asked the Galen to investigate their most probable location given their travel speed and last known communication, they found no trace of them. Given the situation in the region, and especially regarding the recent events that have occurred on and around Starbase 332, we can't discount foul play."
Soleck nodded, "Indeed, this is most unsettling. I will coordinate efforts here to send a search party out. I appreciate your efforts sending out the Galen to ensure it was not just routine issues," Soleck said, giving Ed a pointed look. "We'll keep you posted on our findings," He explained. "I'll also have the flight plan sent over to you in case there is anything the Galen may have missed," He offered. "If there is nothing else, I'd like to see to this right away."
"Keep me informed, Commander. Gates out." the Admiral said, before the channel was cut, and the screen returned to black.
Commander Soleck [P: Le]
Executive Officer
Starbase 332
Lt. Colonel Edward Maxwell
Chief, Strategic Operations
Starbase 332
Lt. Commander Le Austin
Chief of Operations
Starbase 332
Rear Admiral Richard Gates [P: Byrne]
Chief of Fleet Operations
11th Fleet, "Pegasus"
